UK NEWS
2023 was the UK’s second-warmest year on record, Met Office says
An average annual temperature of 9.97C was made more likely by climate change, according to a Met Office simulation
The Met Office expects last year’s temperatures to occur almost every year by the end of the century as climate change continues
LUCY NORTH/PA WIRE
Last year was the UK’s second-hottest on record, which the Met Office said was made much more likely due to climate change.
With an average annual temperature of 9.97C, 2023 was fractionally behind 2022’s 10.03C, according to records dating back to the late 19th century.
However, June was the hottest for the UK on record by a wide margin, and both Wales and Northern Ireland had their warmest years to date. The ten warmest years for the UK have all occurred in the past 20 years.
The Met Office ran a study simulating a world without climate change compared to reality, and found that without human-caused global warming last year’s temperature would likely only have happened once every 500 years. By comparison, they
